Wednesday, July 6, 2016

Jack Dulnuan, The Founder Of Jack's Restaurant Has Passed Away At 81

The province of Benguet (or the whole of Cordillera for that matter) has lost an icon of the local entrepreneurship scene. Jack Dulnuan, the founder of Jack's Restaurant, has been confirmed to have passed away. He was 81 years old. Dulnuan's rise to prominence can be aptly described as a rags-to-riches story. In his early years, he took on odd jobs like working as a houseboy and a delivery boy in Baguio City. With perseverance and a penchant for saving his money, he slowly turned his life around by engaging in various business ventures. But his most well-known contribution to the Cordilleran community is his line of diner-type establishments popularly known as Jack's Restaurant.

Dining in a Jack's Restaurant is now snugly embedded into the evolving cultures of Baguio City and La Trinidad. Almost everyone now knows what a Jack's Rice is. If queried, a Baguio person can confidently recite the contents of a Jack's Rice meal: the rice, the pork lechon, the fried egg, the fried chicken, and the vegetables. Aside from offering good meals at very affordable prices, Jack's Restaurant has also succeeded in making itself stand out from the crowded dining scene in Baguio City. Loyalty within the ranks of its customers has allowed the restaurant to expand and open branches of the restaurant in almost every major street corner of the city.

Dulnuan also dabbled in politics. He served as a Board Member in the province of Benguet. During his tenure, whenever he had the chance, he always tried to instill the importance of saving and smart entrepreneurship among his constituents. During a public assembly in La Trinidad sometime in 2014, he had this to say to the crowd: "I have solved my poverty. It's because I learned to save."

Image credit: Benguet General Hospital

Dulnuan ran for Governor in the recently concluded national elections. Unfortunately for the businessman-turned-politician, he ended up getting the least votes among the five candidates. The independent candidate Cresencio Pacalso took home the bacon, garnering at least 40% of the votes.

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